Method and system for identifying hostile missile launch locations

ABSTRACT

A method for identifying hostile missile launch locations is disclosed. In response to a receipt of a message containing information regarding a hostile missile had been launched at an aircraft, a determination is made as to whether or not a tail number contained within the message is a valid tail number for the aircraft. If the tail number contained within the message is a valid tail number for the aircraft, another determination is made as to whether or not the aircraft was at a valid location at the time the message was sent. If the aircraft was at a valid location at the time said message was sent, pertinent information are retrieved from the message in order to identify the exact launch location of the hostile missile.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field

The present invention relates to surveillance systems in general, and inparticular to surveillance systems for identifying locations from whichhostile missiles were launched. Still more particularly, the presentinvention relates to a surveillance system for identifying locationsfrom which hostile land-to-air missiles were launched at aircrafts.

2. Description of Related Art

Surface-to-air missiles, including man-portable air defense systems(MANPADS), can pose a threat to aircrafts that are within the effectiverange of such missiles. For example, certain MANPADSs such as Stingersand SA series missiles, have altitude and horizontal (or slant) rangesof up to 15,000 feet and four miles, respectively, and can consequentlythreaten aircrafts come within those ranges. Because aircrafts typicallyfly below 15,000 feet for as far as 50 miles before landing and aftertaking off in so-called landing corridors, surface-to-air missileswithin the landing corridors can be threats to aircrafts.

With the recent substantial increase in terrorism activities directedtowards commercial airliners, one of the current Homeland Securityinitiatives is to try to identify a location from which a hostileland-to-air missile was launched very soon after the launch of themissile had been established. Such information can be utilized by thelocal authority to locate and apprehend the attackers.

The present disclosure describes a surveillance system for identifyinglocations from which hostile land-to-air missiles were launched ataircrafts.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, inresponse to a receipt of a message containing information regarding ahostile missile had been launched at an aircraft, a determination ismade as to whether or not a tail number contained within the message isa valid tail number for the aircraft. If the tail number containedwithin the message is a valid tail number for the aircraft, anotherdetermination is made as to whether or not the aircraft was at a validlocation at the time the message was sent. If the aircraft was at avalid location at the time said message was sent, pertinent informationare retrieved from the message in order to identify the exact launchlocation of the hostile missile.

All features and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent in the following detailed written description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention itself, as well as a preferred mode of use, furtherobjects, and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference tothe following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment whenread in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an environment in which a preferred embodiment ofthe present invention is applicable;

FIG. 2 is a high-level logic flow diagram of a method for capturingvideo information by a surveillance system, in accordance with apreferred embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 3 is a high-level logic flow diagram of a method for processinginformation captured by the method from FIG. 2 in order to identify alocation from which a hostile missile was launched, in accordance with apreferred embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now to the drawings and in particular to FIG. 1, there isillustrated a diagram of an environment in which a preferred embodimentof the present invention is applicable. As shown, a aircraft 11 fliesover an urban environment 12 that typically includes roads, streets,bridges, houses, high-rises, etc. A hostile surface-to-air missile,which is a potential threat to aircraft 11, can be launched fromanywhere within urban environment 12.

A surveillance system can be installed on aircraft 11 for gatheringinformation in order to assist the identification of a location withinurban environment 12 from which a hostile land-to-air missile has beenlaunched at aircraft 11. The surveillance system includes a camera 15along with a flight information module (not shown). Camera 15,preferably located at the lower portion of the fuselage of aircraft 11,is equipped with a hyper-hemisphere lens having a view angle ofpreferably 185°×185° and a resolution of preferably 17.4 milli radian.Camera 15 is capable of capturing visible and/or infra-red video imagesof a local terrain, such as urban environment 12, at a minimum rate of30 frames per second.

With reference now to FIG. 2, there is depicted a high-level logic flowdiagram of a method for gathering information by the surveillancesystem, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention. Starting at block 20, video images are continuously capturedby camera 15 (from FIG. 1) while flight information are recorded by theflight information module, as shown in block 21. The recorded flightinformation may include global positioning system (GPS) information ofan aircraft, flight time, flight velocity, orientation (in roll, pitchand yaw) of the aircraft, angular rate (in roll, pitch and yaw) of theaircraft, camera bore sight orientation (in roll, pitch and yaw), etc.The recorded flight information along with the state vector and tailnumber of the aircraft are then merged with the video images captured bycamera 15, as depicted in block 22. Specifically, the recorded flightinformation along with the state vector and tail number of the aircraftare embedded in each of the corresponding frame of the captured videoimages.

The merged data are then written to a high-speed storage device, such asa memory device or a hard drive, as shown in block 23. In order to savespace within the high-speed storage device, some of the older mergeddata will be written over by the newer merged data using afirst-in-first-out scheme.

A determination is then made as to whether or not a missile alert hasbeen received, as depicted in block 24. The missile alert can beprovided via an alert signal from a missile warning system installedwithin the aircraft. If there is no receipt of a missile alert, theprocess returns to block 21 for continue video capturing. However, if amissile alert has been received, the most recent merged data areretrieved from the storage device and are then sent to a secured webaddress via a secured email message, as shown in block 25.

Referring now to FIG. 3, there is depicted a high-level logic flowdiagram of a method for processing information captured by the methodfrom FIG. 2 in order to identify a location from which a hostile missilewas launched at an aircraft, in accordance with a preferred embodimentof the present invention. After the receipt of a secured email message,as shown in block 31, a determination is made as to whether or not thetail number included within the secured email message is a valid tailnumber for the aircraft, as depicted in block 32. Such determination canbe made by checking the tail number included within the secured emailmessage against a database of all valid tail numbers maintained by theFederal Aviation Administration. If the tail number included within thesecured email message is not a valid tail number, an error message isshown to notify user of an anomaly, as depicted in block 34.

However, if the tail number included within the secured email message isa valid tail number, another determination is made as to whether or notthe aircraft was at a valid location at the time the secured emailmessage was sent, as shown in block 33. Such determination can be madeby checking the tail number included within the secured email messageagainst a database of all current airborne aircrafts maintained by theFederal Aviation Administration. If the aircraft was not at a validlocation at the time the secured email message was sent, an errormessage is shown to notify user of an anomaly, as depicted in block 34.

Otherwise, if the aircraft was at a valid location at the time thesecured email message was sent, a message is shown to notify user of theemergency, as shown in block 35. The video images contained in thesecured email message are then analyzed to determine look angles andscaling of the video images, as depicted in block 36. The look anglescan be determined by using the GPS center position locations of thevideo images, the latitude, longitude and altitude of the aircraft, theRPY orientation of the aircraft, and the bore sight angle of camera 15(from FIG. 1). The scaling can be determined by using the altitude ofthe aircraft, the angle to image center, and the raw image resolutionand zoom scale factor. Multiple map databases are then searched tolocate maps with identical or similar look angles and scaling, as shownin block 37.

The located maps are subsequently displayed along with the correspondingvideo images to allow an user to identify an exact launch location ofthe hostile missile, as depicted in block 38. In order to assist theuser during the identification process, the user can be provided withorientation functionalities such as map/image overlay with scalabilityand map/image overlay rotation with fine adjustments.

As has been described, the present invention provides a surveillancesystem for identifying locations from which hostile land-to-air missileswere launched at aircrafts.

It is also important to note that the present invention can beimplemented in a computer system, and the mechanisms of the presentinvention are capable of being distributed as a program product in avariety of forms, and that the present invention applies equallyregardless of the particular type of signal bearing media utilized toactually carry out the distribution. Examples of signal bearing mediainclude, without limitation, recordable type media such as floppy disksor compact discs and transmission type media such as analog or digitalcommunications links.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described withreference to a preferred embodiment, it will be understood by thoseskilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be madetherein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

1. A method for identifying a location from which a hostile missile waslaunched at an aircraft, said method comprising: in response to areceipt of a message sent from an aircraft, wherein said messagecontains information regarding a hostile missile had been launched atsaid aircraft, determining whether or not a tail number contained withinsaid message is a valid tail number for said aircraft; in response to adetermination that a tail number contained within said message is avalid tail number for said aircraft, utilizing said tail number todetermine whether or not said aircraft was at a valid location at thetime said message was sent; and in response to a determination that saidaircraft was at a valid location at the time said message was sent,retrieving pertinent information from said message for identifying theexact launch location of said hostile missile.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein said method further includes in response to a determination thata tail number contained within said message is not a valid tail numberfor said aircraft, notifying a user of an anomaly.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, wherein said method further includes in response to adetermination that said aircraft was not at a valid location at the timesaid message was sent, notifying a user of an anomaly.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, wherein said retrieving pertinent information from said messagefurther includes determining look angles and scalings of video imageswithin said message.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein said methodfurther includes searching a plurality of map databases to locate mapswith similar look angles and scalings of said video images within saidmessage.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein said method further includesdisplaying located maps to allow a user to identify a launch location atwhich said hostile missile was launched.
 7. A computer usable mediumhaving a computer program product for identifying a location from whicha hostile missile was launched at an aircraft, said computer usablemedium comprising: program code means for, in response to a receipt of amessage sent from an aircraft, wherein said message contains informationregarding a hostile missile had been launched at an said aircraft,determining whether or not a tail number contained within said messageis a valid tail number for said aircraft; program code means for, inresponse to a determination that a tail number contained within saidmessage is a valid tail number for said aircraft, utilizing said tailnumber to determine whether or not said aircraft was at a valid locationat the time said message was sent; and program code means for, inresponse to a determination that said aircraft was at a valid locationat the time said message was sent, retrieving pertinent information fromsaid message for identifying the exact launch location of said hostilemissile.
 8. The computer usable medium of claim 7, wherein said computerusable medium further includes program code means for, in response to adetermination that a tail number contained within said message is not avalid tail number for said aircraft, notifying a user of an anomaly. 9.The computer usable medium of claim 7, wherein said computer usablemedium further includes program code means for, in response to adetermination that said aircraft was not at a valid location at the timesaid message was sent, notifying a user of an anomaly.
 10. The computerusable medium of claim 7, wherein said program code means for retrievingpertinent information from said message further includes program codemeans for determining look angles and scalings of video images withinsaid message.
 11. The computer usable medium of claim 10, wherein saidcomputer usable medium further includes program code means for searchinga plurality of map databases to locate maps with similar look angles andscalings of said video images within said message.
 12. The computerusable medium of claim 11, wherein said computer usable medium furtherincludes program code means for displaying located maps to allow a userto identify a launch location at which said hostile missile waslaunched.
 13. A system for identifying a location from which a hostilemissile was launched at an aircraft, said system comprising: means for,in response to a receipt of a message sent from an aircraft wherein saidmessage contains information regarding a hostile missile had beenlaunched at said aircraft, determining whether or not a tail numbercontained within said message is a valid tail number for said aircraft;means for, in response to a determination that a tail number containedwithin said message is a valid tail number for said aircraft, utilizingsaid tail number to determine whether or not said aircraft was at avalid location at the time said message was sent; and means for, inresponse to a determination that said aircraft was at a valid locationat the time said message was sent, retrieving pertinent information fromsaid message for identifying the exact launch location of said hostilemissile.
 14. The system of claim 13, wherein said system furtherincludes means for, in response to a determination that a tail numbercontained within said message is not a valid tail number for saidaircraft, notifying a user of an anomaly.
 15. The system of claim 13,wherein said system further includes means for, in response to adetermination that said aircraft was not at a valid location at the timesaid message was sent, notifying a user of an anomaly.
 16. The system ofclaim 13, wherein said means for retrieving pertinent information fromsaid message further includes program code means for determining lookangles and scalings of video images within said message.
 17. The systemof claim 16, wherein said system further includes means for searching aplurality of map databases to locate maps with similar look angles andscalings of said video images within said message.
 18. The system ofclaim 17, wherein said system further includes means for displayinglocated maps to allow a user to identify a launch location at which saidhostile missile was launched.